Cradle of Love Baby Home

Yesterday, Thursday Sept 20th, Amani went home to live with Batilida (our nurse) and three other Cradle children that she is fostering: Vivian (CP), Rahma and Musa. I spoke to Batilda this morning and she said that he is feeling at home at her place with the others.   Upendo (sw) is hold Amani and Batilda is looking at Amani (in the blue outfit) Maddye is the French lady who is going to sponsor Amani in school. The others are relatives of Amani and caregivers.

3:30 pm and the children are outside playing! First they have their vegetable/fruit juice and then they are ready to have fun in the sun. Brent Calder put together a John Deere Kidz tractor the other day and the older ones enjoy being pushed around the yard on that.Their legs are too short to reach the pedals. Brent brought a red tube from Canada, that the toddlers enjoy crawling through.   Then there are the swings and slides!  We can fit two babies, back to back in the toddler swings, so six of them squeal with delight as they rock  [ Read More ]

It’s 2 pm and there is not one baby sound!  They are all tucked up in their beds having a good snooze. We have two toddlers leaving this week, Amani and Catherine.  Last week Upendo, Batilda and a volunteer named Maddye, went out to see Amani’s family. They live far from any main road, in a dung hut, as most Masaai do. The smoke, the flies, the dust and no school nearby for Amani to attend when he is old enough. Upendo, our social worker, talked extensively with the family and it was decided that Batilda would take Amani in  [ Read More ]

Yesterday, after having her new “mama” from STEMM Children’s Home spend the day bonding with her, Lucia left Cradle. Before she left in the late afternoon, I saw her cuddling with her new caregiver, Brenda. Made me happy to see that and know that she would be contented during the placement and have someone she trusts to turn to when feeling confused or sad.                         Lucia while at Cradle                                                                                                   Meeting her older sisters at STEMM

Going to the hospital and seeing the babies we’ve been called about, is always thrilling! This time I had Sarah with me, who helps in the Cradle kitchen and does our vegetable marketing for us. As there were two babies, I needed an extra pair of loving arms! I also let her name the babies. William is about 3 months old and such a cheerful little fellow. It was easy to get him to smile for the pictures, but he had a hard time holding his head still! He’s still at the stage where his neck is more like a  [ Read More ]

Joshua was found abandoned and brought to Cradle about two months ago. We didn’t know his name or age, but could tell by his size and  interaction with others, that he was probably already 3 years old. He really didn’t fit in with our children because of that.  However, in a couple weeks he adjusted and was a happy child. Upendo, our social worker, was able to locate a small group home, where Joshua would be the 7th child. She visited the place and was happy with what she saw. So on Friday, Joshua made the move there. Upendo and  [ Read More ]

A RESTFUL DAY AT CRADLE The generator burped alive to grumble and groan that once again it had to work on the Sabbath. Maybe it wouldn’t have such a sour attitude if it just listened to the enthusiastic toddlers singing, “The birds are sweetly singing, singing, singing, the birds are sweetly singing, showing God’s great love!” All 12 were excited that mama Church, miss Staci and alumni Mariah were there to share the bible stories with them. Later their happy voices could be heard under the macadamia trees as they collected nuts and stuffed them into their little pockets. Mulberries  [ Read More ]